Taking Stock

Dear Mr. Berko: My stockbroker wants me to buy 400 shares of General Electric. Is he nuts? J.S. Moline, Ill. Dear J.S.: Last June, Jeff “Big Melt” Immelt, who took control of General Electric (GE-$18.47) from the iconic Jack ...

Dear Mr. Berko: This year, I plan to put $6,500 in my individual retirement account into the American Funds Global Balanced Fund, which my stockbroker says will outperform the stock market in the coming decade. I am 60 and intend ...

Dear Mr. Berko: Brinker International has increased its earnings and dividends every year since 2011 and expects to do even better in 2018, but the stock price went down in 2017, from $55 to $32. How can that be when ...

Dear Mr. Berko: I pay over $33,000 a year for health insurance for me, my wife and my four children. That’s more than we’ve spent on doctor bills and medicine in the past 10 years for our whole family, including ...

Dear Mr. Berko: I’ve got a bug in my ear telling me to invest in water utility stocks. My parents live in Flint, Michigan, and my brother recently moved to Pensacola, Florida, and had to buy a water purifier. He ...

Dear Mr. Berko: I recently discovered Dollar Tree, and its prices are awesome. I buy everything there that I can, and I figure we save $65 to $70 a week for my family of six. I’m thinking of buying 150 ...

Dear Mr. Berko: What do you think of the big health insurance companies, such as Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group and Anthem? My stockbroker wants me to sell UnitedHealth Group short because he thinks President Donald Trump and his followers are ...

Dear Mr. Berko: My wife and I have been reading your column for over 35 years, and we’ve made some good stock purchases from your recommendations. We have a $235,000 certificate of deposit that will come due soon and want ...

Dear Mr. Berko: I’m a financial adviser with lots of money under management, and I and two others in our office need your help. Here’s the problem, and then perhaps a personal letter from you to Oath, which is the ...